Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer (7 page)

“It was amazing! You’ll have to try it yourself.”

“I’ll let the chef know.”

“So…” She wasn’t sure what to do with herself now that they’d eaten. It was quiet
in the cabin besides the gusts of wind and lashing of snow against the windowpanes.
“What do people do out here in the evening?”

“Pretty much anything they like. There’s internet, TV, conversation, and eventually…bed.”

She’d walked straight into that one. “And books,” she said breezily, nodding toward
the bookshelves tucked beneath the stairs. “You must read a lot.”

“Not much.” He grinned and there was a devilish sparkle in those dark eyes. “The interior
decorators stuck those in. An eclectic mix of reading material was how they described
it. I stick to magazines and then recycle them.”

“And there I was beginning to think you were a hoarder. Are all the tasteful ornaments
and strategically placed antiques placed by the interior decorators as well?”

“You got it. I don’t collect stuff. Life’s hard enough without getting attached to
inanimate objects. I like to live and travel light.”

She drew her feet up and hugged her knees. “I won’t be selling many of my products
to you in that case. They’re all impractical. Sparkly.”

He tipped his head to one side. “You never know, I’m always buying new properties.
I’ll give my people your details and insist they use you.”

“I wasn’t angling for business!”

He raised a fingertip to his full lips to quiet her protestation. “But I want to.”

She shrugged and decided not to fight him. She could use the business and he clearly
had money to burn, so why not use his connections with his blessing? Nothing immoral
or underhanded about that. “I’ll make sure they get the best service and I’ll throw
in some limited edition specials.”

“You don’t need to.”

“But I want to,” she said with a smirk, echoing his previous words.

He rubbed his hands together briskly. “It’s still cold in here. Perhaps the system
is struggling with the extreme weather. It shouldn’t be, but—” As if on cue, a loud
pop and a crashing sound on the roof made them both start. Then the lights flickered
and died. “Geez, talk about asking for it,” he muttered.

“I can’t see a thing.” Piper hunched into the armchair for safety.

“Give it a minute or two and the backup systems will kick in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am.” His tone turned from irritated to more gentle as she heard him moving
around. “You sound scared.”

She felt a warm hand find her ankle in the dark. “If I was the cat, I’d be crapping
all over your sofa.” She felt a ripple of excitement as his fingers stroked upwards
underneath the hem of the sweatpants.

She heard him chuckle. “Please don’t do that. Everything is going to be just fine.”

“Is that why you’re stroking my leg?”

“Oh, is that what it is? So silky and soft…”

“Stop it.” She giggled as his fingers tiptoed even further up her leg. “You know damn
well you’re groping a defenseless woman in your lair in the dark.”

“Defenseless? I’d take the cat on before I picked a fight with you, darling.”

She sighed and closed her eyes even though everything was in darkness, acutely aware
that he was kneeling at her feet. “Actually, it’s very soothing considering how stressed
I am. It’s been quite a day.”

“It’s the least I can do.” She heard him shift closer, sensed his warmth, and then
felt his breath feather her hair. Her own breath hitched as he brushed his lips on
her forehead. “Your skin is very cool.”

If she had any guts or self-respect, she’d put a few feet between them very quickly
because she had a good idea where this would end if she let it. “It must be shock,”
she murmured as her insides began to feel jittery, and she lifted her chin until she
could feel his breath on her lips.

“It’s my responsibility to make sure you survive the night.” Their mouths touched
briefly, and he tasted of hops and the dark bitter chocolate bar they’d shared after
dinner.

“Yes…yes, it must be.” She lifted a hand and found the hard edge of his jaw, now roughened
by stubble. She scraped her fingernails lightly across it. “But it’s a little overcautious
to start mouth-to-mouth straight away.”

“The Red Cross would never let me join.” She felt his body tremble with a small laugh.
“I break rules too often.”

His mouth came down slowly onto hers, giving her plenty of time to pull away if she
wanted to. She didn’t want to. She melted into the kiss like butter in hot rum, threading
her fingers through his thick hair and pulling him in closer. She felt the heat and
hardness of him through the two layers of their clothes, and the memories of how he’d
felt inside her in Florida came flooding back with a vividness that took her breath
away. There was an intoxicating magic about him, something that made everything seem
all right when she was in his arms. The outside world was forgotten when they were
kissing.

She stiffened as his hand found the curve of her breast in the darkness. This was
only going to end one way if she didn’t push him away immediately. She pressed her
hand against the hard muscle of his chest and then a burst of light made her cry out
with surprise. “The lights—”

Adjusting to the sudden brightness, her gaze met his deep, dark, slumberous eyes and
she realized she’d never seen such a beautiful male specimen in her life. How could
she have ever thought it would be easy to resist him again after she’d been so blown
away before? He could make her come with just one bite when he looked at her like
that. “No Matt, no more.”

His fingertips brushed over her nipple through the soft fabric of her top. “That’s
not what your body’s saying.”

An exasperated gasp escaped her lips. “My body is stupid. This is my brain talking.”

His hand fell away. “I can always make the lights go out again.”

“Do that and all you’ll be seeing is stars.” She peeled his hands away and wriggled
out of the chair. “And you’ll probably be scratched to death, because I’m going to
sleep with the cat. She’ll think you’re a predator, and her teeth are sharp. Good
night.”

She heard him chuckle as she made her way upstairs and a small voice in her mind told
her this was not the end of the matter.

Not by a long way.

Chapter Seven

“Can we forget about last night?” She glanced at him over her shoulder, a brief flash
of emeralds zoning in on the towel around his hips and then up to his bare chest.
Then she turned to the view outside the kitchen’s french doors. “It wasn’t a good
idea.”

Matt yawned as he flicked on the coffee machine and rubbed his eyes. “Sleeping with
the cat, you mean? Did Kitty swipe you in the night?” She was withdrawing from him,
emotionally as well as physically. He was going to reel her back to where they were
the night before, right back to the point where their lips had touched again for the
first time since Sanibel. His plan to wait for her to come on to him had been shelved,
as had his no business mixed with pleasure rule. He was the boss and he’d break all
the rules if he wanted to. Because he wanted Piper Reilly.

“You know exactly what I mean. The inappropriate intimacy.”

“Inappropriate intimacy?” He laughed and pulled a face. “We’re not in high school.
That kiss in the dark was all about sex and you know it. Sex makes the world go round,
sex helps sell all kinds of things, and without sex the planet would die.”

She jerked sideways as he came up behind her and stole a playful kiss on the back
of her neck. Her tone was brittle. “You make it all sound so…so necessary. Does whatever
ants and bees do count as sex?”

“Technically, it must.” He ignored her frown and ran a fingertip lazily down her cheek.
“So tell me, what did I do so wrong in Florida?”

Her head swiveled around, and she looked taken aback. “Oh, nothing. Really nothing
at all. You were great, amazing.” She coughed. “And don’t you think you should put
some clothes on?”

“Later.” He leaned against the door so she had to look him in the eye. “But you ran
out on me. No note, no phone number, nothing.”

“Sorry.”

He was at risk of turning things even frostier, but his ego was still bruised, and
the way she had melted the previous night, however briefly, told him she was attracted
to him. “It wasn’t very nice.”

“Double plus sorry.” She sighed and stepped away from him and the french doors. “The
thing is, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but the opposite. I’m not proud of
the way I treated you, but you did say you were a no-strings drifter kind of guy,
so it goes both ways. I don’t think I mislead you in any way at all.”

“Forget the word relationship if it helps. I’m not looking for ties and promises,
either. I just wanted to spend some more time with you. You blew my mind, and I wanted
more. I wanted to get to know you better, share more good times. I still do.”

Her gaze dropped to her feet. “Matt, it happened in an exceptional place at a particular
time and we’re unlikely to ever be able to recapture the magic of that day and night.
Reality means morning breath and bed head hair and being grouchy before work.”

“I can deal with that.” He caught her by the elbow and ducked under the fall of her
hair to steal another quick kiss. “See? We can kiss without brushing our teeth.”

She smiled and a flush of pink appeared on her cheeks. “You’re persistent, I’ll give
you that. And for the record, Florida
was
fun. Delightful, like a dream.”

“Therapeutic?”

“Very.”

He couldn’t stop himself digging for more information. “So you’re fully cured now?
Over the ex?”

“You mean Stanley.”

“If that’s what the loser is called.”

She raised a fine eyebrow and lifted her chin. “You don’t know anything about him.”

The fact that the guy existed and had hurt Piper was enough to make him want to slap
the guy hard. “He dumped you so he’s obviously stupid.”

She laughed. “I just hope I don’t bump into him with the spray-tanned girl. The town
is way too small sometimes.”

“His loss, big time.” He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against
him. “And he’ll be sick as a dog when he sees you with me, all dressed up and looking
utterly gorgeous.”

Her face dropped and she pushed hard against his chest to escape. “Thanks.”

“What did I say?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She wriggled free and made for the stairs, then froze halfway
there, turning around and sending him a furious look. “You have quite an ego going
on there, Matt DeLeo, but Stan didn’t want me at Christmas, so he’s unlikely to be
eaten up with jealousy and regret now. And…and I’m pretty insulted that you think
dressing me up as some kind of trophy girlfriend arm candy would be enough to change
his mind.”

He lifted both hands over his head with exasperation. Any thoughts he might have had
about suggesting they have a full-on fling in the next few weeks went up in smoke.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“But maybe you’re right, maybe a tight little designer dress, neon yellow acrylic
nails, and a Brazilian wax would have made all the difference to our relationship.
It seems to feature pretty highly on your list of priorities, too.”

Before he could answer her allegations, the upstairs bedroom door slammed shut and
he was alone. “That went well,” he muttered to himself and glared at the coffee machine
as it gurgled and hissed, almost as if it was laughing at him.

Piper pulled open the drapes and blinked as the ice-white brightness of a calm, clear
winter morning flooded into the loft. The morning view from the kitchen was sensational—mountains,
sugar-coated pine trees, and an impossibly clear blue sky—but this room was directly
positioned in front of a picture-perfect waterfall.

The wispy white and blue ribbons of a pure mountain stream tumbled over gray boulders,
sprinkling the mossy rocks and overhanging branches with diamond-bright drops that
glittered in the morning sunshine. It was beyond beautiful and a world away from the
treacherous wilderness the place had been during the big storm.

“That’s nice.” She sighed as the cat slithered around and between her ankles in spite
of the plastic cone around her neck, her cool fur like silk against her skin. The
cat’s pelt was strikingly silver and white with bold black markings in the shapes
of rosettes and spearheads. Limpid green eyes stared up at her with black whirlpool
irises and her purr was a deep, throaty rumble. She’d be perfectly camouflaged outside
in the snowy Colorado wilderness. “Look at you, waterfall cat, so beautiful but dangerous,
like rapids. I think I know what I’m going to call you.”

The cat made a tiny squeak as she picked her up and kissed her on the back of her
neck. “Aspen. I’ll call you Aspen. Now that’s not too corny, is it?”

“Sure beats Felix.” His deep mellow voice from behind made her heart rate kick up
and she tensed as she heard him draw nearer.

“Glad you approve.” She gently lowered Aspen to the floor. “Even though it was a private
conversation.”

“A private conversation with a cat? That’s crazy cat lady stuff.”

“Do you think I really care what you think?” She shrugged and focused her attention
on Aspen, aware of how sharp her reply had sounded, how distant she must now appear.
She didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t really want to be his arm candy for the
next few weeks, either. She just wanted a quiet life, making and selling her pretty,
harmless trinkets and earning enough money to cover the bills. For now.

“I couldn’t see the driveway leading up to your house this morning. There must be
tons of fresh snow out there. Do you think we’ll be getting back to Passion Creek
today?”

“Do you want to go back so soon?” She felt his hands move to either side of her neck
and onto the dip of her shoulders. “We have enough food, drink, and fuel for at least
a month.”

He wasn’t going to seduce her back into being all sweetness and light that easily.
She wanted an apology. “And I have a business to run, not to mention an urgent requirement
to get a new wedding guest outfit.”

“Which you wouldn’t be able to do if you were slaving as an office temp over a hot
calculator, so what’s the difference? You must have had to shut your store up while
you worked in my finance department, right?”

“I would have had nights and weekends free to keep things going, but fortunately I
share floor space with four other artists so we cover for each other now and again.
The rents in Passion Creek are so high that none of us can afford to have a shop of
our own.” She twisted her neck and coolly looked him up and down. “Greedy landlords,
you understand.”

“Ouch.”

The lopsided grin on his face showed that her sarcasm hadn’t affected him one little
bit, so why had she felt even slightly guilty about hurting his feelings? He was a
corporate monster with a rampant libido. But her brief glimpse of him revealed that
his hair did look really good, all choppy and tousled, jet black and damp from the
shower. Soft, bronzed, inked skin. And he smelled of black pepper and ginseng. And
hell, he was still only dressed with a towel around his hips…

She swallowed hard and looked out the window again, crossing her arms tightly over
her chest, aware that her nipples had stiffened with obvious interest at the mere
sight of him. “And my sister is
supposed
to be putting in a few hours in lieu of rent.”

His fingers started massaging the knotted muscles above her collarbones and a treacherous
bolt of hot lust pleasured its way to the apex of her thighs. “I’m sorry if what I
said in the kitchen offended you,” he said quietly, and her eyelids fluttered shut
as he kissed her shoulders with the lightest touch, like a butterfly’s wing. “I didn’t
mean it to sound like that. I would just love to make that asshole Stanley squirm
for hurting you.”

“It’s not your battle. And I don’t give a damn about Stanley anymore if it makes a
difference. I just don’t want to have to see him again, that’s all, and it’s not going
to be easy. We were together a long time and have a lot of mutual acquaintances.”

“How long?”

“Seven years.”

“Hell, being together that long is practically married.”

“Just as well we weren’t, huh? Divorcing someone is a lot messier than dumping them.”

His fingers stilled. “Do you still have feelings for him?”

She shrugged and felt his hands fall away. “Truthfully? I’m not sure what I feel.
Hurt? Cheated? Humiliated? I’m getting used to not having him around. I’ve allowed
myself to get angry a few times, angry at how he ended things, angry at how he treated
me over those seven years. Furious that I let him do it…so I guess that means I don’t
love him anymore.” Matt watched her silently, leaning back against the end of the
single bed, his hands gripping the brass work behind his back so that his torso formed
a perfect triangle. “I don’t think I ever really loved him, or him me. Looking back,
everything was kind of toxic. Too much, too young, too fast.”

“Sounds familiar.” The gap between his dark eyebrows narrowed as he studied her. She
wondered what he was thinking, and what had happened to him to make him say that.
But she wasn’t going to ask, didn’t want to start an emotional journey down an exciting-looking
road that led nowhere. Another dead end.

“Anyway, that’s enough of me being miserable and self-indulgent. What’s done is done.”
She forced a bright smile. “I think she could use some breakfast.”

He tickled the cat’s back. “I’ve fixed something especially for you, Princess Aspen.”

“We can call her Princess if you’d like,” Piper said before her rational brain could
engage and stop her. “Seeing as you’re paying the veterinary bill,” she added quickly,
and hoped her cheeks wouldn’t betray her by going tomato red. “Although, maybe I should
pick it up, now that I think about it.”

“I said I’d pay the bill even if she
is
your cat,” he said with an enigmatic smile. A smile that was also conciliatory, even
pitiful maybe, not surprising as she’d just come off so needy. “But I might just call
her Princess anyway.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind one little bit.”

He looked awkwardly from side to side. “Your clothes are dry. Where do you want me
to put them? I’ll start breakfast while you’re getting ready.”

“I’ll get them if you tell me where they are.”

He sighed. “It really isn’t a problem. I’ll put them in the bedroom, so if you want
a shower—”

“Thank you, I will.” She rubbed at the corner of her eye. The fatigue and the stress
of the last few days were taking their toll. She glanced at the towel around his hips
again and felt a flash of shame as he caught her doing it. “Give me a holler when
you’re dressed and out,” she added quickly.

It was a relief putting her own clothes back on; she couldn’t cope with wearing his
clothes any longer. His sweatpants slithered down over her hips whenever she walked
down the stairs, for goodness’ sake. When she stepped into the kitchen, she saw Matt
crouching over Aspen, stroking her and cooing as she scooped up her breakfast like
a backhoe loader.

“You’re spoiling her,” she said. “She’ll think she really is a princess at this rate.”

“It’s just a little chicken breast,” he said quietly and ran his large hand down her
narrow back. “She still seemed hungry after her canned salmon.”

Piper giggled. “Double breakfast? If she’s sick, you can clean it up.”

“She won’t be sick. She’s eating for at least two.”